Gail Bush

Gail Bush (May 2, 1952 in Chicago, Illinois) is, most notably, a librarian who does research on collaboration between educators.

Background

Education and Awards

Bush holds a Ph.D. in education psychology from Loyola University Chicago, an M.S. in library science and a B.A. in anthropology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She was honored with the AASL National School Library Media Program of the Year Award in 1996, and was named North Suburban Library System School Librarian of the Year in 1998-99 for her leadership in collaboration between her school program and the local public library.

Work and Publications

Bush worked as the curriculum librarian in suburban Chicago at Maine West High School Library Resource Center for 10 years before accepting a position as associate professor and director of the School Library Media Program, Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University in River Forest, IL. She left the position in the fall of 2006. Most notably, she has published two books -- The School Buddy System in 2003 and Every Student Reads: Collaboration and Reading to Learn in 2005.

She is currently a Professor of Reading at the National Louis University in Chicago.

Collaboration

The School Buddy System is a work written by Bush to examine the benefits of collaboration within the school system, as well as offer suggestions and a framework as to how this collaboration will be accomplished. The publication is divided into three sections: "Ready" -- a background and history section, "Set" -- a prepartion section, and "Dive" -- a section devoted to creating and maintaining collaboration (Bush 2003).

Ready

Bush identifies several problems preventing teachers from finding collaboration. She argues that new teachers are taught to be isolated from veteran teachers, creating a lack of communication. There is a lack of a cross-teacher dialogue and doors are shut creating an egg crate school (Bush 2003).

Set

Bush calls for several things to be in place before collaboration can be achieved (Bush 2003).

* A collaborative mind-set that includes the following:
** Metacognition -- self-awareness of your own thinking
** Mindfulness -- keeping yourself open to challenges and opportunities as they come your way
** Critical thinking -- accuracy and attention to "the text" or evidence is important
** Creative thinking -- always trying to see beyond the standard scope of an issue or a situation

*A framework of educator collaboration that includes the following:
** Trust and respect between classroom teachers and resource educators
** Individuality and leadership; more specifically a balance of the two
** Defining and distinguishing collaboration from compromise, cooperation, and coordination
** Community and a holistic environment
** Structure, time, and classroom management
** Creative and critical thinkers, active and reflective learners; together they create synergy

Dive

Bush encourages further conversation and collaboration on the topic and offers conversational prompts to start building collaboration. An example of a conversational prompt follows (Bush 2003).

Other Areas of Research/Publication

Bush is well-known for publishing on modeling for lifelong reading, poetry, information literacy, youth activism, and creativity, among collaboration (Bush 2003).

Poetry

Bush developed "Random Acts of Poetry" in her school library at Maine West High School, while she was the curriculum librarian. The program included sending poetry to colleagues, holding a poetry open house, and writing original poetry (Bush 1997).

References

* cite book
last = Bush
first = Gail
title = The School Buddy System
publisher = American Library Association
date = 2003
pages = v-149
id = ISBN 0-8389-0839-X

* cite book
last = Bush
first = Gail
title = Every Student Reads: Collaboration and Reading to Learn
publisher = American Association of School Librarians
date = 2005
pages = 7-54
id = ISBN 0-8389-8358-8

*cite journal
last = Bush
first = Gail
title = Speak, Muses
journal = School Library Journal
volume = 43
pages = 139
date = September 1997

*cite press release
title = AASL releases new book on reading instruction
publisher = American Library Association
date = 2005-11-07
url = http://www.ala.org/ala/pressreleases2005/november2005/aaslreadinginstructionbk.htm
accessdate = 2006-12-07

*cite journal
last = Codell
first = Cindy Darling
title = The School Buddy System (Book)
journal = School Library Journal
volume = 49
pages = 175
date = February 2003

*cite journal
last = Lefelt
first = Carol
title = Every Student Reads: Collaboration and Reading to Learn (Review)
journal = Library Media Connection
volume =
pages = 62
date = August/September 2003